The purpose of the current study was to extend organizational communication scholarship by examining the influence of culture on the use of motivating language by supervisors in organizations located in India. Furthermore, the influence of motivating language on employees' perceptions of their supervisors' communication competence and their own job satisfaction was examined. Participants included 180 full-time employees from various organizations located in India. The current findings indicate that supervisors in India tended to use direction-giving language most frequently followed by empathetic and meaning-making language. A structural equation model indicated how culture tended to mediate the use of motivating language on the communication competence of supervisors and the job satisfaction of employees.

The purpose of the current study was to extend prior research by examining the impact of policies that allowed or not-allowed employees access to their smartphones while at work on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study also examined the relationship between technology addiction, impulsivity, and entitlement. Participants (N = 266; 123 male and 143 female) were full-time working adults. Findings indicated significant differences in job satisfaction and organizational commitment between employees who worked for organizations that allowed versus not-allowed employees access to their smartphones during the workday. Strong relationships between technology addiction, impulsivity, and entitlement where also found.

Background Employers have become interested in increasing their employees' physical activity; however, research has shown that employee participation in wellness programs is typically low.Method The study applies Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to the implementation of a wearable fitness tracker (WFT) program at a regional public university to examine if the provision of a WFT, as well as the financial incentive of Health Savings Account (HSA) dollars, makes the difference between intention and behavior to engage in more physical activity, is predictive of physical activity and improvements in health, and if health improvements are attributable to program participation.Results The TPB constructs of attitude (β = 0.69; P = 0.000) and perceived subjective norms (β = 0.24; P = 0.028), as well as HSA incentive (β = 0.48; P = 0.000), were found to be statistically significant predictors of behavioral intention to engage in the program. Perceived ease of use (β = 0.58; P = 0.014) was the only statistically significant TAM construct related to activity at six weeks. HSA motivation was statistically significant and positively related (β = 0.36; P = 0.000) to physical activity at six weeks. Perceived subjective norms had a positive and statistically significant association with improvements in health at the six-week (β = 0.19; P = 0.090) and one-year follow-up (β = 0.16; P = 0.009). At the one-year mark, the results suggest that though activity levels increased, the reported improvements in health were low-moderate (M = 4.51, SD = 1.51), with 4%−18% of improvements in health attributable to participation in the program.Conclusions Understanding what drives or deters participation in a WFT program can inform decisions about the adoption of wellness programs with financial incentives.

Employing benign violation theory as a lens, this study (N = 148) explored full-time employees' perceptions of supervisors' likelihood to use sarcasm and engagement in self-disparaging and vulgar language based humor and verbal aggression (VA) in the workplace. In part, findings revealed that employees' perceptions of supervisors' VA positively related to perceptions of supervisors' likelihood to use sarcasm and inappropriate humor engagement.

The current study examined the influence that work group and task socialization has on citizens of Mexico in the U.S. on an H-1B visa and is grounded in Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT). The participants (N = 241) were citizens of Mexico in the U.S. on an H1-B visa. The findings indicated that work group socialization was found to be positively related to organizational commitment and negatively related to role ambiguity and work alienation. Additionally, work group socialization was found to be a greater predictor of organizational commitment and negative predictor of role ambiguity, and work alienation than was task socialization.

This study examining how telecommutes’ in the insurance industry view their supervisor’s leadership style and how this determination influences the employee’s perceptions of their supervisor’s communication competence and their communication satisfaction with their supervisor, as well as their own job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study applied Contingency Theory as a theoretical underpinning. The results indicated that for supervisors to be perceived as leaders they must effectively communicate task related information more than relational oriented messages. These findings add to research by identifying situations in which leaders are to behave in a fashion unique to the computer mediated work setting

This study developed a model to advance scholarship and assist practitioners implement, manage and build their employees’ perceptions of new computer systems. In doing so, Technology Management Model (TMM) was developed. TMM is comprised of three latent variables: technological; personal; organizational thought to influence the attitudes employees hold toward new computer systems. These attitudes were then hypothesized to be related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The results indicated that the data fit the TMM. Implications for these findings were discussed with an emphasis on the value derived from the development of TMM to scholars, practitioners, and employees.

The purpose of the current study was to extend organizational communication scholarship by examining the influence of culture on the use of motivating language by supervisors in Mexican organizations. Furthermore, the influence of motivating language on employees’ perceptions of their supervisors’ communication competence and their own job satisfaction and organizational commitment was examined. Participants included 158 full-time employees from a number of organizations located in Mexico. The current findings indicate that supervisors in organizations located in Mexico, tend to use direction-giving language most frequently followed by meaning-making language and empathetic language. Direction-giving language was also indicated as the greatest predictor of communication and organizational outcomes. A discussion of the current findings highlighting expectancy violations theory was also offered.

The aim of this investigation was twofold: (a) drawing from communication privacy management theory, we wanted to examine the associations between instructors' ineffective communication (i.e., inappropriate conversations, amount of disclosures) and student communication satisfaction; and (b) we wanted to determine if students' positive perceptions of instructor nonverbal immediacy mediated the negative influences of instructors' inappropriate conversations and amount of disclosures on student communication satisfaction. Overall, students reported lower levels of communication satisfaction when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations and frequent disclosures. Based on results, we also concluded that instructor nonverbal immediacy maintains students' communication satisfaction even when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations or disclose too frequently.

This study examined the relationships between organizational and task socialization and employee organizational commitment, job involvement, role ambiguity, and work alienation. Participants were 318 working adults from a variety of organizations who had been working at their current job for less than one year. The findings demonstrated that organizational socialization positively predicted organizational commitment and job involvement and both organizational and task socialization negatively predicted role ambiguity and work alienation. Organizational socialization was found to be a stronger predictor of organizational commitment, job involvement, and work alienation than was task socialization.

This study examined the influence of cultural congruency between societal and organizational cultures on Mexican supervisors' and employees' communication behaviors and employees' work alienation, satisfaction, and commitment. The participants were full time nonmanagement adults working for Mexican owned organizations located in 'Mexico. This study was grounded by the Theory of Independent Mindedness (TIM). The findings offered support for the value of cultural congruency between the societal culture and the organizational culture. Additional findings indicated that power distance, communication apprehension (CA), supervisors' avoidance messages, and work alienation were all positively related to the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of Mexican employees.

The purpose of the current study was to provide scholars and practitioner s with greater insight into the interplay between a supervisor’s leadership, conflict manage ment, and communication competence; and how these behaviors influence the job satisfaction of e mploy es. This study was also designed to provide a better understand of the role communi cation competence plays in the presentation of leadership and conflict management by supervisors. P articipants included 245 full-time working adults from a variety of organizati ons in the Midwest. The findings indicated that the communication competence of supervisors served to be the greatest pr edictor of employee job satisfaction and was found to mediate the relationship between lea dership and job satisfaction and conflict management and job satisfaction.

This study extended communication scholarship by examining the influence of cultural congruency between micro- and macro-cultures regarding power distance on Mexican employees' communication behaviors, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Included were the responses from 168 full-time nonmanagement working adults of Mexican origin working in Mexican organizations. The current study was grounded by the theory of independent mindedness. The findings offered support for the value of cultural congruency between the societal culture (macro) and the organizational culture (micro). Additional findings indicated that power distance, avoidance messages, communication apprehension, and communication satisfaction, were all positively related to the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of Mexican employees.

This study sought to expand our understanding of the communication behaviors between Mexican coworkers. This involved examining the relational maintenance behaviors that take place between coworkers in Mexican organizations and the impact these behaviors had on the workers job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Since Mexico is considered to be a collectivistic country it was also assessed in order to examine its possible influence on coworkers. The findings indicated that culture played a significant role in Mexican employees’ use of relational maintenance behaviors and their satisfaction and commitment. Additionally, it appeared that Mexican employees engaged in relational maintenance behaviors as a result of their collectivistic culture to fulfill interpersonal needs. Further, significant relationships were found between the coworker relational maintenance behaviors and communication and job satisfaction and organizational commitment. A detailed discussion was also provided highlighting the implications of these findings to organizational communication scholars and business professionals alike. Keywords: Relational Maintenance Strategies; Communication Satisfaction; Job Satisfaction; Intercultural Communication; Organizational Commitment Submission date: 2011-10-16 Acceptance date: 2011-10-24

The purpose of the current study was to extend organisational communication scholarship by examining the use of motivating language by supervisors of telecommuters and how motivating language influences telecommuters' perceptions of their supervisors' communication competence and their own communication satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment. Participants included 177 full-time telecommuters from a number of organisations across the US. The current findings indicate that supervisors of telecommuters tended to use the motivating language of direction giving (task oriented) most frequently followed by empathetic and meaning-making language. Direction-giving language was also indicated as the greatest predictor of communication and organisational outcomes. A discussion of the current findings coupled with options for future research is also offered.

The purpose of the current study was to improve our theoretical and practical understanding by examining the influence of a supervisor's verbal aggression on his or her employees’ job satisfaction and commitment, accounting for investment size and the quality of alternatives. And to account for reasons why organizations fail to fully realize the benefits associated with employee retention. A structural equation model was developed to emulate the investment model to determine the veracity of the model in the work setting and to answer the question as to why employees remained in communicatively hostile work environments. The findings shed light on the dynamics that take place within a work environment in which employees are targets of verbal aggression by their supervisors. The findings also indicated that the data fit the structural equation model and confirmed the applicability of the investment model in the workplace.

The current study sought to specifically examine the affect of teasing by way of technology (cyber-teasing) and the importance of the redressive component of a tease. A triangulated approach was used here to gain better insight into the concept of "hurtful" cyber-teasing between romantic partners. A pretheoretical model was developed highlighting the possible associations between teasing via technology and relational outcomes. Findings provide researchers with the prevalence of hurtful cyber-teasing and the associated personal and relational outcomes. In addition, the relationship between hurtful cyber-teasing and the reasons why certain messages escalated into face-to-face verbal aggression and physical violence were also revealed. These results are discussed in light of the inability of technology to fully transmit the redressive nonverbal component of a cyber-tease.

This study sought to extend prior research by examining the prevalence of relational maintenance behaviors between coworkers and the impact of such behaviors on the work-related attitudes of job sa...

The purpose of this study was to develop a model that would serve to assist scholars, business professionals, and employees manage the influence of computer technology in the workplace. This study also focused on mandated use environments given the paucity of research in this area. In doing so, Technology Management Model (TMM) was developed. Actor Network Theory [1] provided support for the multifactor design of TMM. As a result, TMM was comprised of three latent variables of technological, personal, and organizational factors though to influence the attitudes employees hold toward computer technology in the workplace. Further, these attitudes held by employees were then hypothesized to be positively related to their work related attitudes of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The results generally supported all of the correlational hypotheses and also indicated that the data fit the TMM. Implications for these findings are discussed with an emphasis on the value derived from the initial development of TMM including its simplicity, practicality, and its appeal to scholars, business professionals, and employees. Additionally, these findings indicate that communication during the introduction of technologies in the workplace influences employees' attitudes toward technology and ultimately determines if the technology will prove to be a valuable asset or a liability to the organization.